Iran model of Islamic democracy in Mideast: Author

Press TV has conducted an interview with Kaveh Afrasiabi, author and political scientist in Boston, to discuss the impact of Iranian elections on the international community’s perception of the country.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: Given what the Leader has said in terms of what this means to the international community and how it shows and goes to show yet more, how vibrant democracy is the status in the country? How do you think the world will react to this?

Afrasiabi: Well, let’s not forget that prior to the election, the Western media was awash with expectations of low turnout, dim enthusiasm and there was a lot of talks of excluding the reformists, etc.

Therefore, it should come as a shock to the Western audience that suddenly there’s a political shift featuring the substantial gain by the reformists and the centrists that they had thought they’d been excluded. And this great voter turnout that confirms again the legitimacy of the political system in Iran and the doctrine of popular sovereignty that is so cherished by millions of Iranians who responded to the call to participate and exercise their legitimate rights at the ballot boxes.

So, I think that the world community will inevitably come to appreciate the substantial and vibrant democratic system in Iran and the fact that Iran is a stable and orderly society that has conducted these elections irrespective of the foreign pressures and external crises that continue until this day and is an anchor of stability in the region and as a model of Islamic democracy just as the Leader rightly said.

Press TV: For many, many years, Iranian elections have been criticized for not being fair. Now, how do you think this new round of twin elections essentially, given the fact that the majority in Tehran at least for the Parliament are the reformists, will debunk that myth?

Afrasiabi: Well, I think it will go a long way in correcting the misperceptions about Iran that are fueled by certain government propaganda against Iran for their own political purposes. So, we should expect that kind of propaganda to continue and we haven’t seen any enthusiastic reactions by the members of US Congress for example that if there was some allegations of irregularity or voter fraud, [we] would have certainly heard from them, but not when everything proceeded smoothly and orderly and so on.

Nevertheless, in today’s globalized media, it’s very clear that Iran has achieved a major progress in terms of the democratic polity and the world community will come to appreciate that and the Western politicians and so forth will grudgingly accept that fact.

Press TV: Given the make-up of this new Parliament, how do you think it will impact the international policies of President Rouhani towards the West?

Afrasiabi: Well, although we have to wait until the final tallies are out in a couple of days, by now it’s pretty clear that the net result is a vote of confidence for the administration of Dr. Hassan Rouhani and his domestic and foreign priorities and agenda. And although Tehran has gone the reformist way, the national tally might indicate some very delicate balance among the reformists, the principlists and the big and known which is the independents.

And we have to see how the independents will align themselves with one faction or the other, but as the Leader said there are important issues on the Majlis’s plate, including economic reform and so on. And these new deputies, some 60 percent of incumbents by the way apparently have retained their post. So, in terms of comparison to the previous election, the turnover is actually lower than the previous election. So, we’ll see the nature of change and continuity in the weeks and months to come.

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